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Power outages are often framed as mere inconveniences, but their impact can be far more severe, rippling through households, businesses, and the broader economy.
But for Los Baños, Laguna resident Mhike Clerwin, the recent outages in Luzon and the Visayas went beyond disruption, becoming a deeply personal loss that felt as painful as the death of a loved one.
“My lolo passed away after the power went out while he was using a nebulizer, a machine that requires electricity, for his asthma and difficulty breathing,” posted Clerwin. “But today (May 15, 2026), he was unable to continue his treatment because of the Manual Load Dropping (MLD) event implemented by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.”
While power has since been restored and the system has largely stabilized, a critical question remains: who should be held accountable?
(Also read: Ilocos Norte Emerges As Renewable Energy Hub With Vena Solar Developments)
Search for Accountability Begins
For three straight days, from May 13 to 15, the Luzon and Visayas power grids were placed under red and yellow alerts, signaling critical supply shortages during peak demand hours.
The Department of Energy (DOE) explained that a total of 462 megawatts (MW) of supply became unavailable for Luzon and the Visayas following a series of transmission disturbances on May 13. The disruption was triggered when two key 500 kilovolt (kV) transmission lines tripped, affecting a major corridor that carries roughly 12% of Luzon’s electricity supply.
The incident cut off power flow from the 1,200 MW Ilijan Power Complex and the 1,262 MW generating units of Excellent Energy Resources, Inc. (EERI), resulting in an estimated 2,462 MW of combined capacity being affected.
With the transmission path interrupted, electricity could not be delivered to the Dasmariñas and Tayabas substations, leading to supply constraints that affected both the Luzon and Visayas grids.
In a statement released on May 15, the DOE said it has mobilized the Grid Reliability Task Force to investigate the incident. It also reprimanded the NGCP for its “failure to promptly declare and report the Ilijan-Dasmarinas line trip to the relevant regulatory authorities at the time of the incident.” As a result, the DOE is requiring NGCP to submit a comprehensive report detailing timelines, affected areas, plant outages, reserve levels, and restoration measures undertaken, among other technical information.
Under the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Resolution No. 13, Series of 2010, the NGCP is mandated to file an initial incident report within 60 minutes of any power system disruption.
Although the NGCP was able to quickly identify and restore the transmission lines within 12 hours, supply constraints persisted. This is because reconnecting generating plants is not an instantaneous process, as units must be synchronized to the system’s required voltage and frequency to prevent further tripping. This balancing act, involving multiple technical variables, can take several hours or even days, meaning stability is restored only through a careful and gradual process rather than a simple switch-on.
The NGCP, meanwhile, attributed the situation to a tightening power supply condition compounded by multiple plant outages, many of which it said were due to unplanned maintenance even before the incident. NGCP spokesperson Atty. Cynthia Alabanza explained that the May 13 transmission line disturbances led to the loss of additional generating units from the grid, further reducing available capacity. With the total supply shortfall rising to around 4,000 MW amid high demand driven by peak heat conditions, the system ultimately reached red alert status.
For Manila Bulletin columnist Myrna Velasco, the DOE should require a complete chain-of-causation report, beginning with the first power plant that went offline. She noted that this approach would help reconstruct the sequence of failures or system faults, allowing regulators to trace how the disruption propagated across the grid more clearly.
“The DOE must determine whether these plants were actually on unscheduled downtimes or merely suffered forced outages and failed to immediately resynchronize after the transmission line breakdown,” she wrote.
But the issue may run deeper, as a PhilStar editorial pointed out, suggesting that the challenges require broader structural solutions. It wrote, “…the solutions will have to address three things: our lack of power plants, the way we use electricity, and even things we can do to help address climate concerns.”
Key Weaknesses in the Transmission Network
In a Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) discussion paper titled “The Need for Power Transmission Sector Reforms in the Philippines,” Dr. Adoracion Navarro identified several persistent challenges in the country’s transmission sector. These include project delays, regulatory bottlenecks, right-of-way issues, and constraints on transmission capacity and congestion. She also cited concerns over grid reliability, including the adequacy of reserves and ancillary services, as well as coordination and institutional frictions. The paper further flagged ownership and national security considerations as continuing points of tension in the sector.
“…critics argue that the economic costs of delayed investments — such as congestion, reliability issues, and foregone access to cheaper generation — are substantial and often underestimated,” wrote Navarro.
Additionally, former ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta confirmed that penalties imposed on NGCP are far too small to match the economic cost of delays in transmission projects. She cited the ERC’s approval of the Balaoan–Laoag 500-kV Transmission Project, where the estimated energy not served over 15 years translated into roughly P99.8 billion in potential consumer losses, alongside significant revenue losses for generators. Dimalanta noted that, in comparison, the ERC’s maximum penalty of P50 million per violation is relatively small against the scale of economic damage caused by transmission delays.
(Also read: Spain’s Solar Collapse and Blackout: A Warning for the Philippines’ Energy Future)
Consumers Bear the Burden
Despite NGCP being investigated, the ERC still partially granted its motion for reconsideration, approving an upward adjustment in its revenue cap for the 2023–2027 regulatory period. In a May 15 order, the Commission raised NGCP’s Maximum Allowable Revenue from P374.981 billion to P378.711 billion. The adjustment will translate into higher transmission charges, which will be passed on to consumers starting with the October 2026 billing cycle.
Meanwhile, the Power for People Coalition (P4P) criticized the government, saying it is adding to the burden on consumers as the country continues to experience recurring brownouts driven by inadequate power supply.
“The looming threat of rotating brownouts amid red and yellow alerts in the Luzon grid is yet another burden being placed on ordinary Filipino consumers who are already enduring soaring electricity rates, extreme heat, and a worsening cost of living crisis,” stated the group.
Every summer, the DOE repeats the same assurance: that supply will be sufficient and the grid stable. Yet each year, the system tells a different story. Despite years of forecasts and planning, the country still finds itself facing yellow and red alerts from the grid operator during peak demand months, often followed by interruptions that feel less like surprises and more like part of the seasonal routine.
“It is obvious that leadership rests with the Energy Secretary, yet the real question is whether the DOE will fully uncover responsibility and impose meaningful penalties—especially in a system where consumers endure high bills and blackouts, but repeat offenders or habitually delinquent industry players often walk away unscathed,” declared Velasco.
Ultimately, the recurring strain on the grid underscores a familiar reality: when the system falters, it is ordinary Filipinos who absorb the consequences in disrupted lives, lost comfort, and in some cases, far more personal tragedy.
As the P4P reminded the government, “Power is a public necessity. The people should not be left powerless.”
Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=3870423816587401&set=a.1464281820534958
https://www.manilatimes.net/2026/05/17/opinion/columns/about-those-power-supply-alerts/2345560
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1534416378474939&id=100057197750633
https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2026/05/22/751239/all-about-that-grid/
https://mb.com.ph/2026/05/18/blame-game-on-blackouts-whos-really-at-fault
https://www.manilatimes.net/2026/05/17/opinion/columns/about-those-power-supply-alerts/2345560
https://www.youtube.com/live/bv-y1EgIezg
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1459087489593308&id=100064762115861
https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/opinion/2026/05/16/2528356/editorial-red-alert
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2228918/group-slams-govt-over-looming-brownouts-power-woes